The widening of a residential road in Żebbuġ last week went against all road policies and Infrastructure Malta should have consulted with the Planning Authority beforehand, environmentalists are insisting.

On Wednesday, IM workers, escorted by the police, descended on Triq il-Fraxxnu to clear part of a fruit garden to widen the road. Residents and the local council said they were unaware of the impending works, with independent councillor Steve Zammit Lupi sitting on a wall in the path of excavators to highlight his opposition.

IM said the works on the 70-metre road “which had never been completely formed to its actual width” did not require a planning permit and it had obtained approval from the Transport Authority.

An entity can take it upon itself to form new roads and widen spaces without adherence to any road policies
 

Meanwhile, the PA told Times of Malta that class three of the 2016 Development Notification Order allowed IM to carry out the works without the need of a permit, once the works did not encroach the building alignment as indicated in the local plan.

However, environmentalist and lawyer Claire Bonello noted the official road alignment is not clearly marked on the local plans, so it was necessary for IM to get the official alignment measurements from the PA.

“If the PA did not provide such alignments, then it remains unknown on what basis and to what extent IM is widening the road,” she said.

“This is a very worrying issue as it means an entity can take it upon itself to form new roads and widen spaces without adherence to any road policies.”

Bonello said that according to a 2018 legal notice, no new road in an inhabited area could be made without a sanction from the PA.

Moviment Graffitti has also slammed IM for “once again resorting to half-truths and misinterpretation of the laws to have its way”.

'No schemed road as IM claimed'

A spokesperson told Times of Malta that a look at the local plans for Żebbuġ shows there is no schemed road as IM claimed.

“This is just another lie. Just like they did in Dingli, they are exploiting the PA’s lethargy to roll over residents without presenting a single piece of paperwork to justify their works,” Graffitti said.

This is another lie. Just like in Dingli, they are exploiting the PA’s lethargy to roll over residents

“Their standard modus operandi is of carrying out the works first, lie through their teeth, and hope nobody fact-checks their statements.”

The NGO referred to a planning control application by the Żebbuġ local council in 2016 for the widening of this road, which had later been withdrawn.

Infrastructure Malta workers descend on Triq il-Fraxxnu to clear part of a fruit garden to widen the road. Photo: Matthew MirabelliInfrastructure Malta workers descend on Triq il-Fraxxnu to clear part of a fruit garden to widen the road. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

“The mayor at the time was Sarah Agius Saliba, who now works in Infrastructure Minister Ian Borg’s secretariat, and the architect was former MP Charles Buhagiar, who surely has enough knowledge of planning laws to understand that the council required a permit to widen that road,” Graffitti said.

“It is indeed ironic that Borg’s staff seem to know planning laws better than the minister formerly in charge of planning.”

The proposed widening was illegal, Graffitti said, adding that IM CEO Fredrick Azzopardi “sought the protection of the Rapid Intervention Unit to carry out an illegal action against Żebbuġ and its local council”.

An IM spokesperson said that the widening of the road is sited on government-owned land “earmarked for the full construction of the street since the housing estate was planned decades ago”.

In such cases, the alignment of this road is derived from the building alignments on the two sides of the street, as seen in the applicable local plans, he said.

“In fact, all the space around the housing estate apartment blocks forms part of the designated road space,” the spokesperson said.

“Over the years, this space was taken up for various uses, including parking spaces, private gardens, terraces and access paths.

“Given that the original developer of the buildings next to the unformed part of Il-Fraxxnu Street was the government of Malta, IM will not be charging third parties for these works.”

The spokesperson noted that the ongoing works include a slight widening of between one to 1.6 metres along a 40-metre stretch of the road, increasing the road space by approximately 50 square metres.

“Originally, residents and the council had requested the street to be widened further, to the full extent permitted as per local plans, and in line with the width of the widest part of this street (corner with Ħal Mula Street) but IM will be using less than half of the land allocated for this purpose, so the rest of the site will be turned into an actual public garden.”

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.